1 “So the Lord carried out the threat he had made against us and against our judges, our kings, our rulers, and the people of Israel and Judah. 2 Nowhere else on earth have such things happened as happened in Jerusalem when the Lord carried out the threats written in the Law of Moses. 3 Things were so bad that we even ate the flesh of our own sons and daughters. 4 The Lord scattered our people, handing us over to the control of all the nations around us, and they looked on us with reproach and horror. 5 We sinned against the Lord our God and refused to obey him. Therefore, our nation was conquered, instead of being victorious.
6 “The Lord our God is always righteous, but we and our ancestors are still burdened with our guilt. 7 Even though the Lord punished us as he had threatened, 8 we still did not turn to him and pray that we would abandon our evil thoughts. 9-10 We did not obey him or live by his just commands, so the Lord brought on us all the punishments he had kept ready for us.
The Prayer for Deliverance
11 “You, O Lord, are the God of Israel who brought your people out of Egypt with great power and with signs, miracles, and wonders. You showed your mighty strength and gained a glorious reputation, which is still recognized today. 12 O Lord our God, we have sinned; we have been unfaithful; we have disobeyed all your commands. 13 But do not be angry with us any longer. Here among the nations where you have scattered us, only a few of us are left. 14 Listen to our prayer of petition, Lord, and rescue us for the sake of your own honor. Let those who have taken us into exile be pleased with us. 15 Then the whole world will know that you are the Lord our God and that you have chosen the nation of Israel to be your own people.
16 “O Lord, look down from heaven and see our misery. Listen to our prayer. 17 Open your eyes and look upon us. Those in the world of the dead with no breath left in their bodies cannot offer praises to you or proclaim how just you are. 18 Only the living, O Lord, can offer you praise and acknowledge your justice, even though they may be suffering greatly, bent and weak, hungry and with failing eyesight.
19 “O Lord our God, we pray to you for mercy, but not because of any good things done by our ancestors and our kings. 20 You turned your anger and wrath against us, just as you had threatened to do when your servants the prophets spoke your word to us and said, 21 ‘Bend your backs and serve the king of Babylonia, and you can remain in the land that I gave to your ancestors. 22 But if you refuse to obey my command to serve him, 23 I will bring to an end every sound of joy and celebration in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem. Even the happy sounds of wedding feasts will no longer be heard. The whole land will be desolate and uninhabited.’
24 “But we did not obey your command to serve the king of Babylonia, so you carried out the threat that you had made when you spoke through your servants the prophets, when you said that the bones of our kings and of our ancestors would be taken from their tombs and scattered. 25 And now here they lie exposed to the heat of the day and to the frost of the night. They died in torment from famine, war, and disease. 26 And because of the sin of the people of Israel and Judah, you have reduced your own Temple to ruins, even as it is today.
27 “But, Lord, you have been patient with us and have shown us great mercy, 28 as you promised through your servant Moses on the day you commanded him to write your Law in the presence of the Israelites. 29 ‘If you do not obey me,’ you said, ‘you will be reduced to a handful among the nations where I will scatter you. 30 I know that you will not obey me, because you are a stubborn people. But when you are taken into exile in another land, you will come to your senses. 31 Then you will realize that I am the Lord your God, and I will give you a desire to know and a mind with which to understand. 32 There in the land of your exile you will praise me and remember me. 33 You will stop being so stubborn and wicked, for you will remember what happened to your ancestors when they sinned against the Lord. 34 Then I will bring you back to the land that I solemnly promised to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it will be yours again. I will increase your population, and you will never again be reduced to a small number. 35 I will make an everlasting covenant with you; I will be your God and you will be my people. I will never again remove you, the people of Israel, from the land that I gave you.’
1 Therefore the Lord hath made good his word, which he pronounced against us, and against our judges that judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Juda,
2 To bring upon us great plagues, such as never happened under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that were written in the law of Moses;
3 That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter.
4 Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are round about us, to be as a reproach and desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them.
5 Thus we were cast down, and not exalted, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, and have not been obedient unto his voice.
6 To the Lord our God appertaineth righteousness: but unto us and to our fathers open shame, as appeareth this day.
7 For all these plagues are come upon us, which the Lord hath pronounced against us
8 Yet have we not prayed before the Lord, that we might turn every one from the imaginations of his wicked heart.
9 Wherefore the Lord watched over us for evil, and the Lord hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he hath commanded us.
10 Yet we have not hearkened unto his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord, that he hath set before us.
11 And now, O Lord God of Israel, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and high arm, and with signs, and with wonders, and with great power, and hast gotten thyself a name, as appeareth this day:
12 O Lord our God, we have sinned, we have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all thine ordinances.
13 Let thy wrath turn from us: for we are but a few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us.
14 Hear our prayers, O Lord, and our petitions, and deliver us for thine own sake, and give us favour in the sight of them which have led us away:
15 That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, because Israel and his posterity is called by thy name.
16 O Lord, look down from thine holy house, and consider us: bow down thine ear, O Lord, to hear us.
17 Open thine eyes, and behold; for the dead that are in the graves, whose souls are taken from their bodies, will give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousness:
18 But the soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will give thee praise and righteousness, O Lord.
19 Therefore we do not make our humble supplication before thee, O Lord our God, for the righteousness of our fathers, and of our kings.
20 For thou hast sent out thy wrath and indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by thy servants the prophets, saying,
21 Thus saith the Lord, Bow down your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon: so shall ye remain in the land that I gave unto your fathers.
22 But if ye will not hear the voice of the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon,
23 I will cause to cease out of the cites of Judah, and from without Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: and the whole land shall be desolate of inhabitants.
24 But we would not hearken unto thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: therefore hast thou made good the words that thou spakest by thy servants the prophets, namely, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers, should be taken out of their place.
25 And, lo, they are cast out to the heat of the day, and to the frost of the night, and they died in great miseries by famine, by sword, and by pestilence.
26 And the house which is called by thy name hast thou laid waste, as it is to be seen this day, for the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Juda.
27 O Lord our God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine,
28 As thou spakest by thy servant Moses in the day when thou didst command him to write the law before the children of Israel, saying,
29 If ye will not hear my voice, surely this very great multitude shall be turned into a small number among the nations, where I will scatter them.
30 For I knew that they would not hear me, because it is a stiffnecked people: but in the land of their captivities they shall remember themselves.
31 And shall know that I am the Lord their God: for I will give them an heart, and ears to hear:
32 And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and think upon my name,
33 And return from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, which sinned before the Lord.
34 And I will bring them again into the land which I promised with an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be lords of it: and I will increase them, and they shall not be diminished.
35 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will no more drive my people of Israel out of the land that I have given them.